Czech Republic: After years of continued growth, slight drop in foreign tourists arrivals

Prague, Czech Republic – After several years of robust and continued growth of foreign tourists arrivals, their numbers have (very slightly) dropped in the first quarter 2019.

The Czech statistical recently office released the figures of tourism, based on the number of guests in collective accommodation establishments, for the first three months of the year.

4 million visitors in the Czech Republic from January to March

While the number of domestic visitors from the Czech Republic increased compared to the same period last year, foreign tourists reported a slight drop “after several years of continued growth”, points out the Czech statistical office.

In total, the number of guests increased by 1.8% year-on-year during the first three months of 2019, reaching more than 4 million visitors in total.

The number of overnight stays from guests, both domestic and from abroad, reached 10.8 million nights (+0.9% compared to last year), but decreased in several regions, including in Prague (-2.6%).

Czech Republic reports first drop in foreign tourists in several years

Guests from abroad slightly outnumbered domestic visitors, but dropped, for the first time in many years, compared to the same period in 2018: there were slightly more than 2 million foreign tourists who came to the Czech Republic from January to March this year, a 0.2% fall compared to the first quarter 2018 – and compared to around 1.98 million domestic visitors, whose numbers increased by 3.8%.

Most of the foreign tourists came from Germany (408.000), Slovakia (143.000), Poland (137.000), Russia (131.000) and Great-Britain (116.000). The Czech Republic also welcomed high numbers of tourists from Italy, South Korea and the United States, while Chinese visitors (92.000, +10.7%) and French tourists (68.000, +16.9%) reported the biggest hikes compared to the same period last year.